Ford is taking the time to trumpet technology that's let drivers go further by stopping gradually. Specifically, the Blue Oval says the various versions of its regenerative braking systems have generated enough energy to offset the use of 100 million gallons of fuel, Wards Auto writes.

It's that time of month again. September 2011 sales in the U.S. have been tallied (see plug-in results here) and so we took a look at the good-old green standby, hybrid vehicles. With quake-related vehicle production issues more or less out of the picture, output of most hybrid vehicles is back on track, even if demand isn't.

San Francisco is leading the way in reducing taxi greenhouse gas emissions, and part of the movement was spearheaded not by a politician, but by a taxi driver. Thirteen years ago, Paul Gillespie was the first cabbie to occupy the seat allocated to a driver in the newly formed 7-person San Francisco Taxi Commission. At the commission's very first meeting, Gillespie, who has been concerned about the environment since high school, recommended that clean taxis be placed on the agenda.

Imagine a police chase in Manhattan where a Ford Fusion Hybrid pulls up behind the criminal followed by a few Priuses, an Escape Hybrid and a couple of Altima hybrids. Now, think of the scenario where the criminal, driving his gas-guzzling Hummer, takes off out of the city limits on a long-distance chase. A hundred miles later, the criminal creeps to the side of the road running on nothing but fumes while the NYPD hybrid crew has consumed less than three gallons per vehicle. While this scenario

We heard from Ford CEO Alan Mulally yesterday about his company's overall work with the U.S. government on energy policy. He's not the only Ford representative at the show worth talking to at the Washington Auto Show, though, and we got to sit down with Nancy Gioia, Ford's director of global electrification, for an update on the company's plug-in vehicle projects.

Either the Canadian Cancer Society really wants you to stop smoking, or, what feels more likely, it simply has a Ford Escape Hybrid it's trying to get rid of. If you're a resident of Ontario and you're 19 years old by March 1, the group's Driven to Quit contest will reward you and a buddy if you successfully quit the smoking habit for one month. That's it. Thirty days without a cigarette and you can maybe take home a new car.

Electric cars have been with us since the very beginning of the automobile age and from that time until now, its most important component has been the battery. It stores energy chemically until it is needed to create the electricity that powers a vehicle's motor. There have been different types of batteries over the years but none have had the practicality or popularity of the very first rechargeable one, the lead-acid battery.

Ward's Auto World has published its 15th annual ten best engines list and several fuel efficient powertrains have been honored. Two new diesel engines were joined by Ford's Escape hybrid on the list. The dual turbocharged 3.0L inline 6 cylinder diesel from BMW and the Volkswagen 2.0L TDI were the first new 50-state legal diesels to be picked by the Ward's editors. Both of those, along with the Escape hybrid, got more than 30 mpg in real world testing by the magazine.